Spotify Crashing On Desktop? 6 Common Issues (Solved)

Spotify is considered by many people to be the king of music streaming and rightly so. Their platform has countless users happily listening along to their favorite artists and playlists.

However, there are times when technical issues occur and this can hamper our ability to access the content we want to listen to.

If you’ve been using Spotify on your desktop computer and found that it’s crashing on you, then don’t worry, in this article you can get to grips with the reasons why this is happening and how to solve it.

Table of Contents

Spotify Is Crashing Because The Cache Needs To Be Cleared

The Spotify desktop app has had its share of user complaints over the years, one of the major gripes being that it has a tendency to crash or take a very long time to load up.

It’s taken a while to discover what the problem was, but thankfully, some smart folks got to the bottom of the issue and identified that it was to do with Spotify’s use of memory, or more precisely – the cache.

This is an issue for both Mac and PC users, but it is solved the same way – clearing the Spotify cache.

Mackeeper.com pointed out why this is necessary, stating:

“[The] Spotify cache is extremely poorly managed. It adds up over time, growing into an intimidatingly-large segment that takes up your Mac’s memory and causes the app itself to load slowly.”

Sometimes, this build-up in Spotify’s cache does more than simply lead to slower loading times, it actually causes Spotify to completely crash.

If you’ve been experiencing crashes when using the desktop version of Spotify then it’s a great idea to try clearing the cache.

How To Clear The Cache For Spotify On Your Mac

Ensure Spotify is closed before beginning the steps.

With the Finder open, use the ‘Go menu’ to select ‘Go to Folder’.
From here you’ll want to type in the following:
- ~/Library/Caches/
Open up the com.spotify.client folder and then delete everything within it.
Return to the ‘Library’ folder and find the folder named ‘Application Support‘ and open it.
Search for Spotify and open it in order to search for the file named ‘prefs‘.
Open ‘prefs’ using text editor and enter the following at the bottom of the text file:
- storage.size=1024
- Your Spotify cache size has now been limited to a size that should not hinder the application from running properly.
Save the ‘prefs’ file.
Return to the Spotify folder and find the ‘PersistentCache‘ folder and move it to trash.
Empty your trash to complete the process.

How To Clear The Cache For Spotify On Your PC

If you’re a PC user and downloaded the Spotify app from the Spotify website, then follow these steps to be cache free:

Launch ‘Run‘ by hitting the Win and R keys simultaneously.
Enter “%LocalAppData%\Spotify\Storage\” into the search box and then hit return.
You’ll want to delete the files from within the ‘Spotify Storage‘ folder, to do this select all the files and then hit the shift and delete keys.
- A pop-up will appear that requires you to confirm the action – choose ‘Yes‘.

Take the following steps if you’ve downloaded Spotify via the Windows Store:

Open ‘Run‘ and enter: “%LocalAppData%\Packages\SpotifyAB.SpotifyMusic_zpdnekdrzrea0\LocalCache\Spotify\Data\“
Once you hit return you’ll open Spotify’s ‘Data‘ folder and will need to delete all the files within it.
Once again, remember to confirm the deletion of the files by selecting ‘Yes’.

Your Spotify Is Crashing Because It Requires An Update

Whether you’re using a Mac or a PC, Spotify can sometimes let you down by randomly crashing.

However, it may not be random at all, and in actual fact, your poor Spotify app just needs an update.

Updates help ensure that your apps run smoothly and are free of any glitches. Usually, an update will give an app more stability and Spotify is no exception.

Ensuring that you stay up-to-date with Spotify updates can reduce the chances that your app will crash. However, many users are unsure how to check whether their version of Spotify is up-to-date.

Moreover, it’s extremely helpful to know where within the app any new updates can be found for download.

Luckily, it’s a simple process to ensure your Spotify is running on the latest version or whether it needs an update.

The Basics Of Updating Your Version Of Spotify For Mac Or Windows:

Whether you are on a Mac or PC, Spotify needs to be open to check for updates.
Clicking the three dots will open up the Spotify menu.
Select the last option – ‘Help‘
Within the ‘Help’ pane you’ll see ‘About Spotify‘.
Open ‘About Spotify’ and you’ll be able to tell which version you are running and whether you need to download an update.
It is recommended that you download any updates that are available.

Your Desktop Verison Of Spotify Is Crashing Because Of The Hardware Acceleration Setting

Both Mac and PC users have found that one of Spotify’s default settings can be a cause of an unexpected crash.

The setting to blame in this case is called ‘Hardware Acceleration’ and strangely enough, it should improve performance.

However, some users have identified that the Hardware Acceleration setting is actually creating more issues than it solves.

You may find that the Hardware Acceleration setting has either been switched off or is on, but either way, if you’ve experienced frequent crashes whilst using Spotify, then it’s a good idea to try toggling it.

The following steps are almost identical whether you’re on a Mac or PC and will help you find the Hardware Acceleration setting and toggle it to on or off.

How To Disable Or Enable Hardware Acceleration (Mac):

This setting has been known to cause trouble for Spotify desktop users and is usually enabled as default.

If you find that it is disabled you can also try enabling it to see if that makes a difference, too.

Open Spotify and then access the menu by clicking the three dots.
Select ‘View’ from the drop-down menu and then choose ‘Hardware Acceleration’.
Clicking this setting will toggle it on or off – indicated by a tick.

How To Disable Or Enable Hardware Acceleration (PC):

Launch Spotify and open ‘Settings‘.
Within ‘Settings’ locate the section named ‘Compatibility‘.
Within ‘Compatibility’ you’ll see the option to toggle ‘enable hardware acceleration‘.
Toggle this option on or off depending on how you find it.

Update Your Computer To Ensure That Spotify Does Not Crash

Compatibility issues can cause apps to crash.

If your Mac or PC is not fully up-to-date then it may be the reason that Spotify is crashing.

Ensuring that the system software is updated is therefore essential and, as helpdeskgeek.com makes clear:

“[it] should help fix any Spotify-related issues that stem from incompatibilities with the system software.”

Update Your Windows Computer For Spotify

Check for updates and ensure your Spotify app doesn’t run into incompatibility issues by following these steps:

Open ‘Settings‘ from the Start menu.
Select ‘Update & Security’ followed by ‘Windows Update‘.
From this Window, you’ll be able to confirm if your computer needs an update.
Download any updates necessary and install.

Update Your Mac For Spotify

If you’re a Mac owner then use the following steps:

Open ‘System Preferences‘ from the Apple menu.
Select ‘Software Update‘
Choose to ‘Update Now‘ to ensure you have the most up-to-date version of MacOS

Please also check out our article exploring whether Spotify affects a computer’s performance.

Force Quitting The Spotify App & Restarting Can Solve A Crash

If you’ve been hit by a Spotify crash then the app is probably in need of a restart.

However, once Spotify has crashed it can be difficult to get it to respond – let alone shut down the program.

In this situation, you’ll need to know how to ‘force quit’ Spotify.

Force quitting is the best way to start again in order to alleviate any issues in the running of the program.

The process of force quitting is different between PC and Mac, but we’ll take you through the process on both systems.

How To Force Quit Spotify On Mac

If Spotify has crashed on your Mac then follow these easy steps in order to force quit:

Open the Apple menu, located at the top left corner of your screen (you can identify it by the Apple logo).
From the list of options choose ‘Force Quit‘.
Now select ‘Spotify‘ and use the ‘Force Quit’ option to stop Spotify from running.
Re-open the program and test if it is running properly.

How To Force Quit Spotify On PC

Force quitting an application on PC is simple, just follow these steps:

Simultaneously hit the Ctrl, Shift, and Esc keys to launch the ‘Task Manager‘.
Ensure that the ‘Processes‘ tab is selected.
Find Spotify from the list and then select ‘End task‘.
Once Spotify is closed you can try re-opening it.

Read our blog here about Spotify not Playing on Desktop?

You Need To Reinstall Your Spotify App To Prevent Further Crashes

Unfortunately, sometimes there’s nothing for it but to completely start from scratch.

If you’ve been experiencing multiple crashes and you’ve tried out all the options available to you then it’s probably best to delete your Spotify app and reinstall it.

The benefits of a complete reinstall are:

Ensuring you have an up-to-date version of Spotify.
Ensuring that you no longer have a corrupted copy of the Spotify app.
A fresh version of Spotify with a clear cache.

The only downside to a fresh reinstall is that the downloaded music files you’ve saved to play whilst offline will also be deleted.

We’d recommend only taking the steps to reinstall Spotify as a last resort, as if you’ve got a large library of music for offline play, it will take some additional steps and time to redownload your collection.

Reinstalling Spotify is as simple as just downloading the installer from Spotify or the Microsoft store, however, before you do that you’ll need to know how to uninstall Spotify from your desktop computer.

How To Uninstall Spotify On PC

If you need to reinstall Spotify on your PC then take these steps to delete it first:

From the ‘Start Menu open ‘Settings‘.
From within ‘Settings’ choose ‘Apps‘.
Find Spotify from within ‘Apps’ and then choose to ‘Uninstall‘ the program.
From the Spotify website or Mircosoft Store, you can redownload Spotify ready to re-install.

How To Uninstall Spotify On Mac

Uninstall your Spotify app on Mac by taking these steps:

Open the ‘Applications‘ folder from your Mac.
Find Spotify and move to ‘Trash‘.
Empty Trash.
Redownload Spotify from Spotify’s website and launch the installer.

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